John McCain: Classified Senate Report on Torture 'Chilling'

By Sarah Mimms

April 1, 2014

The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on interrogation techniques employed by the CIA in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks includes a number of "chilling" stories of the use of torture by American officials that have not yet been released to the public, Sen. John McCain said Tuesday.

The existence of the report and some of its contents, including that coercive techniques such as waterboarding did not lead to the capture of Osama bin Laden, were first reported by The Washington Poston Monday.

The 6,300-page report is classified, but the Intelligence Committee, headed by Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, will push Thursday for the Obama administration to declassify a 400-page executive summary, The Post reported.

Asked about the report, McCain said it offers further evidence of the inefficiencies of using torture on American enemies. "When you torture someone they will say anything you want to hear to make the pain stop. So I never, ever believed this bologna that, well, because of waterboarding they got information," he said.

McCain said he has not read the report himself, but has "heard a lot about it." He declined to comment on anything that was not included in the original Washington Post report on the record, but added: "There's a couple stories [in the report] that are so chilling that I can't repeat them right now."

McCain also elaborated on an event that was reported Monday by The Post, noting that officials waterboarding a terror suspect reported to CIA headquarters that they had "gotten everything we can out of the guy."

"The message came back, 'Waterboard him some more.' That is unconscionable," McCain said.